In relation to visor housing assemblies, numerous prior art sun visors exist, adapted to accommodate various types of slidable extensible panels located therein, which serve as additional shading or glare protection for operators of motor vehicles.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,264,100, for example, discloses a unitary opaque windshield visor defining a compartment for storing a glare shield, wherein the visor compartment is pivotable about a longitudinally extending pivot upward to a stored position, and downward to an operative position for shielding the operator's eyes from the sun. The visor body is provided within an opening along a first longitudinal edge to allow a glare shield to be slidably received in the compartment and extended through the opening.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,353,593, in one aspect thereof shown in FIGS. 5-7 discloses a panel visor housing open along the bottom and sides, to allow for slidable movement laterally along a track and vertically by two C-shaped hoding members. Fastening elements are used to seal mating halves of the panel visor closed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,323,275, generally discloses a housing in the form of a glare shield assembly detachably connected to a motor vehicle sun visor pivotally mounted for rotation about a generally horizontal axis, wherein the housing has a hollow interior and groovings in the interior walls and having slotted end and front walls, to allow for slidable extension of primary and secondary laterally slidable members, and a vertically slidable tertiary member.
Still other prior art, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,990, teach a visor body including two substantially hollow core halves each of which possess a surface which mates with a corresponding surface on the other core half, and upholstery material surrounding the core halves. The core halves possess peripheral edge portions around which are wrapped edges of an upholstery material, and when said core halves are fused together to form the visor housing assembly, the upholstery material is additionally secured to the core halves by being compressed intermediate the peripheral edges of each of the core halves.
Accordingly, while prior art devices disclose sun visors which allow slidable panel members to extend outwardly therefrom, none specifically disclose particular visor housing assemblies nor any particular construction thereof to accommodate such panel members. Moreover, while numerous visor housing assemblies having a two-part construction achieved by joining mating halves thereof appears known, as evidenced by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,353,593 and 4,570,990, none of the prior art patents or sun visors currently or previously in use on production automobiles disclose or teach a three-part construction of a visor housing assembly including a single substantially planar frame member having a rim, and two cover members adapted to be affixed thereto, as in the present invention, nor any of the advantages that may be realized therefrom. In particular, one particular advantage of the present invention is the provision of a frame member and rim which may further be adapted to house slidable panel members. Two separate cover members are later affixed to the frame member, after the slidable panels have inserted therein, to retain the panels within the visor housing, rendering removal of the panel members impossible without separation of the cover members. Lacking in the prior art is any teaching of a particular visor housing assembly that is capable of allowing easy and rapid insertion of slidable panel members.
Numerous prior art devices also exist for sun visor panels having retractable vertically slidable panel members, and means for preventing unintended displacement of such panel members.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,375,364 in particular discloses a vertically slidable vanity mirror which may be retained within said visor housing by means of retention or latch means. In a disclosed embodiment thereof, small magnets may be mounted within the visor near the top to retain the vanity mirror in the retracted position when its use is not desired.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,948,554 discloses an externally mounted vertically slidable panel member, restrained from unintended vertical displacement by frictional engagement of a carrier member with arm members which allow sliding of the panel.
Still other devices are known, such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,306,657, which teach an auxiliary visor attachment with externally protruding screw means to adjust the frictional engagement and ease of sliding of the vertically slidable panel.
Problems associated with each of the above prior art devices occur in that the no positive locking feature is explicitly provided for use with the vertically slidable panel member. Frequently, in a vibration prone environment such as an automobile, frictional braking devices or magnetic retaining means for the vertically slidable panel member are largely unsatisfactory in that they may allow gradual extension of the vertically slidable member when such extension is not desired by the operator of the motor vehicle. This occurence, while not only bothersome, can possibly also become a safety hazard if visibility of the operator becomes impaired. In the case of magnets, any jarring of the motor vehicle in which the sun visors of the prior art are installed could conceivably result in sudden extension of the vertically slidable panel member from a retracted position to an extended position, with unexpected obstruction of the motor vehicle operator's field of view.
Attempts to increase the frictional braking capability of the retention means to avoid the above problem of unintended extension have been largely unsuccessful since vertical sliding of the panel member is consequently made much more difficult to operate by an operator of a motor vehicle, particularly when attempting to forcibly reposition the slidable panel member into a retracted position within the visor housing while driving.
Where adjustable friction means are provided for on the visor housing, as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,306,657, the result is rather unaesthetically pleasing. In addition, such mechanisms introduce further required manipulation by the operator of a motor vehicle, which is not only difficult to do when driving, but also prevents a serious safety hazard.
Other prior art devices exist, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,853,370 which teach a clamping base assembly for clamping a visor extension thereto, further having spring retaining means for retaining the slidable visor extension member in a retracted position. Such patent further discloses guide slot notches which allow the slidable visor extension to be manipulated so as to be restrained in the extended position when its use is desired.
This configuration, while offering a positive locking means to restrain the visor extension from unintended movement, is awkward to manipulate. Furthermore, such configuration allows undesirable and annoying vibration of the visor extension within the guide means, since no flush abutting contact of the visor housing guide means, and visor extension is possible due to the space necessary to allow manipulation of the visor extension to a locking position. Moreover when a clamp-on visor extension as disclosed in the above patent is provided, rather than a specially adapted visor housing for retaining the vertically slidable panel therewithin, the risk of injury to the driver from protruding parts is greatly increased in the case of a motor vehicle accident. In the present invention, in which a retractable vertically slidable panel member is provided, the risk of injury to the occupant of the vehicle from protruding components of the sun visor or visor housing assembly is eliminated, and is yet even further reduced when padded upholstery material is added to the exterior of the visor housing assembly.